High Noon
by Satanira
Summary: Quatre, an Arabian prince, is kidnapped by a barbarian queen and rescued by a slave girl who is more than she seems... AU, yaoi, language, violence, politics, pairings unset DISCONTINUED!
1. It's Starting!

It was hot; the kind of muggy heat that clings to everything and leaves the barest trace of an unpleasant aftertaste in the back of your mouth and makes it hard to breathe. It was exactly the kind of heat Quatre hated. At least during the dry season in Arabia, a person didn't feel as if he were suffocating every time he inhaled. At least in Arabia, water could ease the discomfort to an appreciable degree. At least in Arabia, he could sit in the shade of the palace's trees and rest for a while.

Instead, Quatre had to be as far from his familiar homeland as it got, off the map completely, being held hostage by some insane brunette woman who referred to herself in broken tradespeech as 'Relena Queen.'

"Here." A small wooden bowl was thrust into Quatre's view, held between a pair of dirty, sun-browned hands. "I'm afraid it won't help much, your highness, but it's something at least."

"Thank you." Quatre said with a polite smile, managing not to snatch the bowl. It might have been lukewarm, but it was cooler than he was, and it was water. Therefore, he didn't really give a damn.

"Slowly, your highness." His savior, a tiny slave girl named Mariemaia who spoke flawless tradespeech, cautioned, leaning gently against the warm wooden bars of Quatre's cage. "If you drink too fast, you'll upset your stomach."

Quatre obediently slowed down, smiling behind the bowl. After all, it wasn't every day a prince let himself be ordered around by a slave child. He finished the water, silently wondering what Mariemaia was doing outside at this time of day as he handed back the bowl. The whole village usually rested at noon, slaves included.

"I can't thank you enough, Mariemaia." He said gratefully.

"If I can get you out of here, you can thank me by taking me with you." She offered with a small smile.

"W-what?!"

"I have a key to this thing, and no one else will be up for an hour at least, your highness!" Mariemaia hissed, motioning for him to lower his voice. "You have to take me home! You just have to!"

Quatre hesitated, not sure if taking the girl would help or hinder his escape. One the one hand, she definitely knew the area better than him, was stronger than him, and she knew how to survive in this human hellhole. On the other hand-

"Queen Relena is going to make you marry her tomorrow night."

"You can come."

"Thought you'd see it my way."

* * *

"I'm afraid our only choice now is to assume that his highness has been kidnapped, your majesties." Heero said in his customary monotone, although his deep blue eyes were icy with concern. "Kidnapped or dead." 

"He is not dead!" Queen Silvia yelled, slamming her delicate fist onto the middle arm of the double throne on which she sat. "I would know if my son were dead!"

King Rashid placed his own hand on top of his wife's, and the small, pale blond calmed almost immediately, dabbing gracefully at her eyes with a handkerchief she produced from nowhere.

"I'm so sorry, Heero," she apologized with a small smile, "you know I don't mean to yell, but this is my baby we're talking about. I… I just…"

"It's all right, your Majesty." Heero said calmly, used to the queen's emotional outbursts after most of his life serving her. "I understand. I should have chosen my words more carefully."

"Being diplomatic was never your strong suit, Heero." King Rashid said evenly. "We gave you this mission because we trust you to do it, not because you have a way with words."

"Hn." Heero replied. "Incidentally, we recently received word that Princess Mariemaia of the Romefeller kingdom went missing three months ago, two weeks before Prince Quatre disappeared. There may be a connection."

"Perhaps…" Rashid agreed thoughtfully. "Continue with your mission and inform us of developments as you see fit."

"Yes, your Majesty." Heero said, bowing before turning to leave.

"And Heero?" Queen Silvia said, replacing her handkerchief wherever she'd pulled it from.

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"Be safe. For me."

"Yes, your Majesty," Heero assured her, unbending enough to smile.

* * *

"We have to hurry, your highness," Mariemaia whispered, holding back a thick tree branch for him. "The village is probably waking up about now, and it won't take long before they discover we're gone," 

"Please, Mariemaia, call me Quatre." He said, working his way through the dense underbrush between them. "Out here, you outrank me. Perhaps _I_ should call _you_ your highness…"

"You do, and I'll leave you out here to fend for yourself!" Mariemaia gasped. "The mere thought of a royal prince referring to me with any kind of respect is… is…"

"Horrifying?" Quatre supplied, smiling. "Absurd? Sinful? Revolting? Unnatural?"

"Unnatural sounds about right,"

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"Would I do that, your highness?"

"Yes,"

* * *

"I just don't get what kind of connection there could be," Duo said, playing with the end of his long brown braid. "I mean, sure, they're both heirs, and they disappeared within a month of each other, but so what?" 

"You'll call me paranoid again," Heero warned, glancing at Duo out of the corner of his eye. When Duo just looked at him expectantly, he sighed and elaborated. "We've established that Prince Quatre is not dead. The queen said she would know, and she would. Quatre just isn't the kind of person who would inconvenience his parents by leaving like this. That leaves kidnapping, right?"

"I guess…" Duo conceded uncertainly, wondering just where the hell this was going.

"Well, if someone can kidnap one heir, why not two?"

"You're paranoid."

"I told you you would say that. But it makes sense."

"Conspiracy theorist," Duo accused flatly. "Who the hell would want to kidnap two screaming spoiled brats? It's not for ransom, since we haven't heard a peep in that quarter."

"Who knows?"

"You obviously don't,"

"Shut up, Duo."

* * *

_Damn, all my chapters are getting short. I hope you liked this. Review for it. I need reviews, or I'll waste away to nothing overnight, and never write again. I mean it._


	2. Moving Right Along

1To LeshyaeDawnfire- You're a Valdamar fan, aren't you? I recognize both parts of that name. But all that aside, I like Relena as the bad guy, too. That's why I did it. Trowa and Wufei will come at a later date in the story, probably in this chapter or the next one. Heero and Duo are not detectives. Heero is an assassin who has served the Arabian Crown since he was born, and Duo is one of the palace servants.

To Koyishiri- I didn't plan to just leave it like this, you know. I have every intention of finishing this, and don't give me that old saw about the road to hell and good intentions.

To Lollipop5 – I didn't stop writing; I just put this story on hold while I worked on some of my other ones. You gotta understand that with more than ten stories going at once, updates to a single one could be a while in coming.

* * *

"Are you all right, your Highness?" Mariemaia asked, her ice blue eyes concerned. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No," Quatre replied softly, wincing slightly. "You didn't hurt me; that panther did. Now please, hurry up and finish cleaning this thing before I scream."

"Yes, your Highness!" She exclaimed, returning to the nasty gash on Quatre's shoulder.

* * *

"What?"

"I would like your permission to take one of the palace servants with me when I leave." Heero repeated calmly.

"But… We've tried to assign you servants in the past, and you refused!" Rashid protested, bewildered. "Why would you suddenly request one like this?"

"Let's just say I've become… attached to this particular servant recently." Heero explained, refusing to meet his king's eyes. Instead, he looked to Silvia, silently begging her to explain what was going on to her husband.

"Dear," the queen said quietly, "perhaps it would be best if we just let Heero have his way in this. He asks for so little in light of all he does for us; if he wants some company on this mission, why not let him have it? You know Heero would never do anything to compromise his duties."

"Well…" In the face of his wife's most endearing sad puppy dog face, Rashid had no choice but to relent. "Okay. Who did you have in mind?"

"Duo." Heero said immediately, breathing a purely mental sigh of relief. "He works in the stables."

"You mean the charming young boy with the long braid?" Silvia asked, smiling. "He's so sweet! Why, just yesterday, he picked me a bouquet of wild flowers!"

"Yes, him." Heero said.

"He _what?_" Rashid demanded at the same time.

* * *

"I get to go with you? I really, really, really get to go with you?" Duo demanded, bouncing excitedly. "This will be the first time I've left the palace ground in _years! _This is so exciting!"

"Calm down." Heero ordered without looking up from his packing. "I have queen Silvia's permission to take you into town today and have you properly outfitted. This won't be a pleasure ride, Duo."

"Even pleasure rides aren't pleasure rides." Duo snorted, bouncing right off Heero's narrow bed. "I grew up in the big, bad world, Heero. I know what it's like out there."

"Good. Now go start saying your good-byes; we leave early tomorrow."

* * *

"When we get to the city, there's someone who'll help us out, but we have to get to him first." Mariemaia explained. "How good are you at acting?"

"I'm a prince." Quatre reminded her, shrugging and wincing as the act pulled on his wound. "I have to be good at acting. Why? What did you have in mind?"

"Well… there are two different charades we could use to pull this off. In one, you're a minor nobleman and I'm your slave. The only problem with that is that you wouldn't treat me like a slave."

"And the other one?"

"In the other one, I'm a minor noblewoman, and you're my guard. That one has more merit, because I know I can pull off the noble act, and you're definitely strong enough to act as a bodyguard. But in order to do that, I need a dress."

"True." Quatre agreed, looking thoughtfully at the simple shift the slave girl wore. "But with your shift and some of my stuff, I'm sure I can work something out."

"You sew?"

"My mother taught me."

"How utterly unprincely,"

"I have a lot of qualities that could be labeled that."

* * *

"How do I look?" Mariemaia asked, twirling full-circle so her light new skirt flared attractively around her legs.

"Like a noblewoman." Quatre said after a moment's consideration. "With one small exception."

"What's that?"

"You're not wearing any shoes."

"Oh, I've already come up with a story for _that_." Mariemaia said, rolling her eyes. "And it'll also explain why I only have one guard with me. We were attacked by savages."

"Are we the only survivors?"

"Of course. You got me out, but the savages took everything of value, and we had to run for it. Can you fight, your Highness?"

"Well… yes." Quatre admitted, looking slightly ashamed. "I had personal trainers back I Arabia, in case of situations like this."

"You mean your parents actually drilled you about what to do if you were kidnapped by a barbarian queen and rescued by a slave girl?"

"You're being facetious again, Mariemaia."

* * *

"He-ero?"

"What?"

"Where're we go-ing?"

"Sorsos. It's a town in the Romefeller jungles, just this side of the border."

"Why are we going there?"

"Why are you asking so many questions, Duo?" Heero asked with a mental sigh, wondering if bringing the long-haired servant with him had been such a good idea after all.

"Cause I wanna know the answers. Duh." Duo answer in his usual cheerful voice. "I'm going on this trip, too, Ro; it's only fair that I know what you're planning so I can make some plans of my own. Now why are we going to Sorsos?"

"There's a man there who might be able to help us. He keeps an eye on the slave trade in Romefeller; if that's what happened, he'd definitely know about it."

"And if it's not?"

"Then he'll be able to help us figure out what did happen."

* * *

"Are we ready?" Mariemaia asked with a slightly conspiratal smile.

"When you are, my Lady." Quatre replied, gesturing for her to precede him up the dusty road to Sorsos.

"Come along, then, guard." She said, sounding exactly like the spoiled noble's daughter she pretended to be.

Quatre obeyed, hiding a smile.

* * *

_Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this thing! I hope you didn't all abandon me because of that! Don't forget to review and help me get moving on chapter 3!_


	3. Provisions and Mariemaia's acting skillz

To Dark-Spiritwolf- I'll try, dearheart, really, I will.

To Mikol- Yes, another chapter. I love the plot, too. You no know Gundam Wing? Poor baby. Patpat. I'll try my very hardest to write up the next chapter, just especially for you.

* * *

Mariemaia strode haughtily down the street, managing to look spoiled rotten and extremely wealthy despite the fact that she wasn't even wearing shoes. Quatre had to admire that kind of acting ability as he walked behind her, trying to look threatening enough to stop trouble before it started.

Apparently at random, the orange-haired girl turned and slipped into a shop, beckoning for Quatre to follow.

It was a small store, a bit better kept than those around it, and seemed to specialize in survival. The walls were lined with barrels of dried goods and hung with weapons and tools. The plain wooden counter stood under an impressive display of clothing, all designed specifically for wear in the jungle. There were even saddles and horse tack in one corner. It was well-lit, and Quatre would have bet money that the lanterns were for sale, too.

There was only one other person in the store; probably the owner. He was tall, thin, and deeply tanned, with brown hair that swept down from his forehead to hide half of his face. His visible eye, when he turned at the sound of the door, was brilliant emerald, and seemed to stare right through Quatre and into the very depths of his soul.

"May I serve you, my Lady?" The man asked with a graceful bow in Mariemaia's direction.

"I'll need two horses, provisions enough to reach the capital, and a new wardrobe." She said, the air of smug superiority evident even in her speech. "My guard needs new arms; he can tell you what kind. I'll also pay for the name of a trustworthy inn."

"Certainly, my Lady." The brunette said, and Quatre was positive he smiled ever so slightly.

Mariemaia motioned sharply at him, indicating that he was to do the bargaining. He was suddenly grateful for all the times Heero had taken him to the market, for without that practice, he'd be lost. As it was, he held his own fairly well. At the end, he knew he was still being cheated, but not by nearly as much as he'd feared.

"I'll want to see the horses before we buy them." He added.

"I would expect no less from as fine a horseman as you, your Highness." The brunette said, smiling at Quatre's surprise. "I must say, you drive a good bargain, for a royal."

"Thank you," Quatre said a bit uncertainly, glancing at Mariemaia. She was smiling encouragingly.

"Don't worry, your Highness; no one can hear us. The man who built this shop made sure of that. The horses are stabled out back. Catherine!"

A girl about Mariemaia's size came running out from behind a cleverly hidden curtain, panting. She was a sweet-looking child, with blue-gray eyes and curly hair several shades darker than the man's.

"Yes, brother?" She asked breathlessly.

"The lady needs provisions for eight days and gear for two horses. Think you can get it on your own?"

"Yes!" Catherine said, her face lighting up. "I won't spill anything this time, I promise! Just you watch, Trowa, I can do it!"

Trowa smiled affectionately at her and patted her on the head. "I trust you, Catherine. But don't try to get at the bridles; you're still too short."

Catherine pouted, but didn't object. She scampered around the counter and immediately began her task, while Trowa motioned for Quatre to follow him through the hidden curtain.

"Mariemaia will be safe with Catherine." Trowa said softly. "No one's won a fight in close quarters against her in more than a year."

"That little girl?" Quatre demanded in disbelief, glancing back in the direction of the store proper.

"She's very skilled with her throwing knives." Trowa assured him. "I'll trust you to choose your own horses, but be quick about it. Someone's bound to have figured out that she'd come here, and I'd rather you weren't in my store when the pursuit shows up."

* * *

Trowa stood to one side, watching the Prince of Arabia. The boy knew horses, that much was certain, but Trowa still worried. From what he'd heard, Prince Quatre wasn't big on fighting, and he was bound to run into someone unfriendly; probably several someones, and most likely at the same time.

"What do you call this one?" Prince Quatre asked, patting the neck of a sandy Arabian mare. The horse leaned into the caress, her eyes untroubled by the fact that a stranger was standing next to her.

"Sandrock." Trowa said. "She's steady and fast, but she bites."

The prince said something in Arabic, and laughed when Sandrock turned and lipped his sleeve.

"I'll take her. You know Mariemaia better than I do; which mount would you recommend for her?"

Trowa thought for a moment, looking over his small stable. Sandrock snorted softly, and another horse answered- a showy dapple gray with a white mane and tail. Catherine had named him Tallgeese and learned to ride on him. He was getting on in years, but he still ran like the wind, and could certainly pass for the mount of a noblewoman. Besides, he and Sandrock got along fairly well. She'd even dropped him a foal last year.

"Tallgeese."

* * *

With only Duo, who was used to discomfort, along, Heero made good time. Had he been alone, he probably would have ridden far into the night instead of camping at sunset, and eaten in the saddle when he ate at all. Every other time he'd gone to the Romefeller jungles, both he and his mount had arrived exhausted.

Heero's body, if not his sense of duty, thanked Duo's persistent mothering. It was probably the closest thing he'd had to a vacation since his first mission for the Crown.

"Man, am I glad to see trees." Duo muttered. "I'm all for the desert, but give me a nice, shady jungle any day of the week. The humidity's gonna be murder on my hair, though."

Heero couldn't help but smile. Duo's one vanity – and his most attractive physical feature – was his hair. It was sleek, straight, dark brown, and reached nearly to his knees. He customarily wore it in a braid that he only undid when he washed it.

"I see you smirking at me, Ro, and you can just stop it." Duo said huffily. "Remember, when my hair starts frizzing out and tangling for no good reason, you're going to have to listen to me complain."

"True." Heero agreed without a trace of the humor he was feeling. Sure, it wasn't nice to laugh at someone else's expense, but the theatrics Duo put on when it came to his hair were just too amusing.

"You'll still love me when I'm grouchy and frizzy-haired, right?" Duo asked with every outward appearance of being distraught. His eyes, however, were full of laughter.

"Hn."

"Oh, Heero, I _knew_ you cared! Now, we'll be in town soon, and I know how you feel about public displays of affection, so before we go one step further, you're going to kiss me, understood?"

* * *

_Teehee._


End file.
